{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,8]],"date-time":"2026-05-08T17:19:21Z","timestamp":1778260761382,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,4]],"date-time":"2025-11-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1762214400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["82002199"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82002199"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We established a reliable and cost-effective method for identifying severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants circulating in central China and analysed the clinical characteristics of patients with acute coronavirus disease 2019 who were infected with these variants.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The RNA of centrifuged and enriched samples was extracted and reverse transcribed into cDNA. cDNA was then analysed using a nested polymerase chain reaction amplification and Sanger sequencing method targeting specific mutations in the spike,\n                      <jats:italic>ORF1a<\/jats:italic>\n                      , and\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      genes. This was validated against next-generation sequencing, achieving 100% concordance.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Among 172 isolates, JN.1.18.2 was the most prevalent (52.9%, 91\/172), followed by XDV.1 (25.0%, 43\/172), JN.1.16 (20.9%, 36\/172), and KP.2 (1.2%, 2\/172), which was found in central China for the first time. Fever with cough (52.6%, 80\/152) was the most common symptom and 59.9% (91\/152) of patients had underlying conditions. JN.1.18.2-infected patients more frequently presented with double-lung computed tomography changes. A strong positive correlation was observed between the duration from hospital admission to the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants and total hospitalisation duration.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The new method provides a reliable tool for variant detection, highlighting milder clinical presentations in patients with active infections. Long-term monitoring of variants and patient characteristics is essential for effective prevention and treatment strategies.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2025.1605198","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,4]],"date-time":"2025-11-04T06:15:58Z","timestamp":1762236958000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Novel method for the identification of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants and clinical characteristics of patient infection with SARS-CoV-2 variants in Central China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Youhua","family":"Yuan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yiman","family":"Geng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tingjun","family":"Rong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Baoya","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiaohuan","family":"Mao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiaohuan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiulei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yuan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peiming","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fengxia","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1002\/hcs2.36","article-title":"Released by National Health Commission of People\u2019s Republic of China & National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine on January 5, 2023","volume":"2","year":"2023","journal-title":"Health Care Sci"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"696","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(23)00011-7","article-title":"Real-world use of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir in outpatients with COVID-19 during the era of omicron variants including BA.4 and BA.5 in Colorado, USA: A retrospective cohort study","volume":"23","author":"Aggarwal","year":"2023","journal-title":"Lancet Infect. 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